The Presidential Campaign Organisation of President Goodluck Jonathan has accused the All Progressives Congress (APC) of stopping its presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari from participating in a presidential debate being organised by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) as a means of shielding the intellectual laziness and inability of the former military dictator to constructively engage contemporary national issues in a live television and radio debate from Nigerians and the international audience.

Jonathan who spoke through the Director of Media and Publicity of his Campaign Organisation, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, stated that the APC knows that General Buhari will flunk it if he is subjected to the rigours of debate on national issues relating to governance and development.

Jonathan’s Campaign body said it was aware that the APC had already expressed its concerns, when approached by an international news channel for a debate, about the intellectual acumen of General Buhari, and had assured the news channel that it was only comfortable with its vice presidential candidate, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, who has capacity to feature brilliantly on the programme.

“We have just read a report in the media credited to the APC Presidential Campaign Organisation that the party would not allow its candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari, to participate in the radio and television presidential debate organised by the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON).

“The APC accused the organisers of the debate of unhidden bias and campaign of calumny by some key organisers of the programme against the corporate political interest of the party and its candidates.

“Whilst we will not bother ourselves with the many reasons adduced by the APC, we wish to state that we see the APC decision as an attempt to shield its presidential candidate from displaying his intellectual laziness and inability to constructively engage contemporary national issues in a live television and radio debate.

“We had envisaged that the APC would be reluctant to expose General Buhari to the rigours of a live television debate because the opposition party knows that its candidate will flunk it.

“If the APC truly believes that it is ‘a party of progressive intellectuals’, as it claims it should allow General Buhari to prove that at the debate.

“Should the APC fail to participate in the debate, it would also show the disdain both the party and its candidate have for the Nigerian people, denying them the opportunity to make informed choices on the basis of what each candidate will articulate as propositions on issues that will be raised.

“We are convinced that General Buhari does not have what it takes to sustain a coherent argument on germane issues of governance and development.

“We challenge General Buhari to a debate on any national and international medium of mass communication and our candidate, President Goodluck Jonathan will be ready to participate.

“On the other hand, President Jonathan’s running mate, Vice President Namadi Sambo, is also ready to participate in the debate and any other debate.

“Our presidential candidate and his running mate will not raise flimsy and escapist excuses such as “unhidden bias” and the like, since we believe that they are well-rounded intellectuals who have been prepared by their experience in office to answer any question under the sun on the governance of our nation.”, Jonathan Campaign group noted.

Apparently for want of facts, Lagos State governor, Babatunde Raji
Fashola, on Wednesday, urged Lagos residents not to vote the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Jimi Agbaje, because he
is too old to rule the state at 57.
He said his party’s candidate, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, has age advantage
to carry on with the task from where he would leave governance in May
29.
Also, the national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator
Bola Tinubu, enjoined the people not to vote Agbaje, who he said could
not manage his personal business well.
Both Fashola and Tinubu spoke on Wednesday, at the Lagos West
senatorial campaign of the APC governorship candidate, Mr Akinwumi
Ambode, which took place at Sky Power Play Ground, beside the Nigeria
Police Headquarters, Ikeja.
Agbaje will be 58 years on March 2, having been born in 1957.
Fashola, who did not mention name while addressing the crowd
consisting of leadership of the party, said it was Ambode that had the
wherewithal to govern Lagos as a young, successful accountant.
According to Fashola, the task of governing Lagos State was daunting
and needed vigour on the part of the person at the helm of affairs,
recalling that in 2007 when he took over governance at age 44, he
could count the number of grey hair on his head.
“Today, at 52, I am counting the number of black hair on my head.
Akinwunmi Ambode is the man that can do it. If you put an old man
there, he cannot do it. If you call him in the night, he may not pick
your calls,” he warned.
Fashola described the PDP as termites, always ready to destroy
everything they laid their hands upon, while describing them further
as worse than Ebola virus.
Addressing the gathering, Tinubu, while expressing appreciation to God
for making him discover Fashola and now Ambode as talents suitable to
rule Lagos, said Ambode as the APC candidate was arrived at based on
clamour by youths in Lagos who, he said, demanded they wanted another
youth like Fashola.
Tinubu said true to the promise he made, Fashola had not disappointed
the people of Lagos, adding that his tenure in office could be
described as eight years of unbroken promises.
He called on the people to vote for change by sending President
Goodluck Jonathan packing in February poll.
Tinubu said Lagos was not ready for any experiment, recalling that the
PDP governorship candidate, Agbaje, was with them in the Alliance for
Democracy (AD), but was defeated by better candidates in the party’s
governorship primaries ahead 2007 poll.
He also recalled that Agbaje rejected the offer of deputy governorship
of defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) before he defected to
contest on the platform of Democratic Party Alliance (DPA) and lost to
Fashola in the general election.
In his address, the APC governorship candidate, Ambode, said it was
certain that the party would win the coming election, promising to run
a government that would not discriminate among the ethnic
nationalities in the state if voted into office in February.
Recall that the outgoing Governor Fashola administration had deported
none Lagosians to their various states in the last six years, the most
controversial was the deportation of over seventy Igbos and dropping
them at bridgehead, Onitsha, Anambra State.

Also, recall that the presidential candidate of the APC will be officially 73

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday during a rally in Enugu said that the All Progressives Congress candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), cannot remember his own mobile phone number.

Jonathan, whose unscripted address was mostly a response to previous statements made by Buhari, accused the APC presidential candidate of deceiving Nigerians by promising to revive the economy without explaining how he would achieve the feat.

The President wondered how Buhari would develop the country’s economy, a feat he could not achieve while he was in office as head of state between 1983 and 1985.

“Is it now that Buhari cannot even remember his own phone number that he can change the economy of the country.” Jonathan asked.

The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate said that although he did not like to “go personal during campaigns,” “sometimes circumstances demand that certain things must be said.”

Jonathan said that Buhari belonged to the medieval age, adding that he (the APC candidate) intended to run the Federal Government as a medieval king.

He said, “We cannot run the government as if we are in the medieval age; we cannot run a government where somebody said he would throw people into jail.

“You are not a medieval king – a medieval king can throw you into jail but we have to follow the rule of law because we cannot go back to the old days.”

Jonathan, however, read the speech made by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.) after overthrowing Buhari’s regime through a military coup on August 27, 1985 to justify his claim that the APC candidate does not keep his promises.

Babangida, in the portions of the address read by Jonathan, justified Buhari’s overthrow by pointing out that the latter did not live up to the promises he made to Nigerians when he ousted a democratically elected civilian government headed by Alhaji Shehu Shagari in a military coup.

Noting that Buhari “deceived Nigerians” from 1983 to 1985, Jonathan quoted Babangida as saying, “The initial objectives of Buhari’s intervention were betrayed as there was a general deterioration of standard of living in the country.”

The PDP candidate also pointed out that Babangida accused Buhari of being “too rigid in his attitude to national issues” and “became alienated from the people” in the course of his stay in power.

He, therefore, challenged Buhari to tell Nigerians how he intends to revive the economy.

Jonathan said, “They are telling young Nigerians that they are going to change the economy but they have not told us how they want to manage the economy more than us.

“If they say they want to change agriculture, they should tell us the weak links in the agriculture value chain and what they want to do about it.

“I said in Lagos that I want to work with young people, not to deceive people.

“I am not going to run the government based on my habits, I am going to run the government according to global best practices.”

Jonathan also insisted that he was committed to the campaign against corruption.

“There is no government that has fought corruption more than we do,” he said, noting that some previous administrations pretended to be fighting corruption while oppressing their enemies.

He recalled that Buhari jailed some prominent Igbo politicians while in office as head of state, including former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme and former governor of old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo.

Stressing that Buhari jailed politicians on trumped up charges, Jonathan said, “You can no longer carry people and put them in prison for 301 years.”

The President equally accused Buhari of having a wrong idea of corruption.

According to him, Buhari believes that every wealthy Nigerian is corrupt.

He said, “If a Nigerian businessman has a private jet, then you are corrupt but if a South African has a private jet then you commend him.

“If you have a good house, then you are corrupt, if you have a good car then you are corrupt – that is his definition of corruption.”

Jonathan accused his opponent of making spurious claims against him.

The President said, “They are saying that government is corrupt but they are not telling us what they are going to do to stop corruption. Let them go back to their consultants to coach them, then I will listen to them.

“They should tell us how they are going to manage the economy better than we do.

The beautiful city of Uyo is the perfect setting for the opening of a new chapter in the history of sports in Nigeria. Come November 7, 2015, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, His Excellency Godwin Akpabio, will lead the government and people of Akwa Ibom state in opening the Akwa Ibom International Stadium aptly nicknamed the Nest of Champions.
The truly amazing sporting edifice is an Olympic Sized stadium is a 30,000 capacity ultra modern complex that is already regarded as the best in the West African region and compared with South Africa’s Soccer city.
Modelled after the Allianz Arena in Germany, the home ground of reigning German Champions Bayern Munich, the Stadium boasts 4 -tier, covered, seating terrace, all-natural grass, high-tech floodlights and security cameras, 36 emergency exits, bullet proof VVIP and VIP along with other ultra-modern facilities.

The stadium will be opened with a friendly match between long time rivals, Super Eagles of Nigeria and Black Stars of Ghana on Friday, November 7 at 3pm, with notable dignitaries from all over in attendance.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Thursday thumped his chest for organising a successful national dialogue, saying he meant well for the country and promised to implement the recommendations of the 2014 National Conference, which officially closed Thursday.
The president made the pledge Thursday at the National Judicial Institute, NJI, ‎during the closing ceremony of the conference, where he also received the 21-volume report from the conference chairman, Idris Kutigi.

Mr. Jonathan also said the successful conclusion of the conference have proved cynics, who never gave the conference a chance, wrong.

He said some of the recommendations of the conference will be considered by the National Council of State, while the remaining ones will be sent to the National Assembly, the President said while formally receiving the 10,000 pages, conference report, with 600 resolutions.

Jonathan, however, took a swipe on the conference detractors, whom he described as prophet of doom who have been put to shame.

He also pledged that the report would be considered by the council of State before it’s passed to the National Assembly.

Barely two days after the controversial return of Aminu Maigari, the embattled President of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, the headquarters located in the Wuse Zone 7 District of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja has been engulfed by fire.
The Federation’s spokesperson, Ademola Olajire, who confirmed the incident said the cause of the fire outbreak remains unknown at the moment but there was efforts to put it off.

It was gathered that offices of the President, Secretary General and the accounts department might have been affected.

The NFF is currently enmeshed in a leadership tussle with Aminu Maigari and Mike Umeh laying claim to the chairmanship of the football body.

The Federation’s Abuja Secretariat has declared that it was able to rescue some of the trophies won by the national teams from its offices after a blaze swept through the building on Wednesday morning.

Among the trophies saved were the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations trophy won in South Africa and the 2013 Fifa U17 World Cup trophy won in the United Arab Emirates.

However, thousands of records and financial documents were lost in the flames which started around 9:30am.

The fire according to the General Secretary Musa Amadu emanated from the left wing of the third floor of the NFF Secretariat.

The inferno burnt down all the documents in the accountant’s office, swept through the office of the general secretary and destroyed most of the documents in the office and in the offices in the left wing of the building.

Amadu described the incident thus: “I think the fire may have started from a power upsurge that happened at about that time. We tried as much as we can, but it is quite unfortunate.

“I have assured you, we are going to reassess those things that have got burnt, and those missing.

“We want to assure Nigerians that the job of the Federation would not be affected in any way, we would continue our normal duties until we get to the root of the whole thing,” he said.

Amadu who was on ground to salvage some of the document in his office, said they were able to rescue most of the trophies won by the country’s national teams.

In his reaction on arrival at the Secretariat at about 11.45 am, NFF President Aminu Maigari gave thanks to God that no lives were lost in the inferno.

“We are grateful to God Almighty that no lives were lost in the fire incident, we are optimistic that we would get over this incident, and I am sure that the security agencies would step in immediately to investigate what had happened,” Maigari told media.

Maigari only returned to work at the Glass House on Monday after several months of intrigues which saw him impeached by the board over allegations of fraud but he was reinstated under the orders of the international football body, FIFA.

Insinuations are rife that the fire might have been caused in order to destroy documents as members of the NFF board are still at loggerheads.

The problems in the NFF have seen contract negotiations with coach Stephen Keshi stall with less than three weeks to the Super Eagles’ opening pair of AfCON 2015 qualifiers against Congo and South Africa.

There is an increasing likelihood that the national team could be handled by a temporary coach before an agreement is reached with Keshi who led them to victory last year and took the team to the second round at the World Cup in Brazil.

Meanwhile, the fire was later has been put out but the assistant controller of Fire Service, Eyo Ime, told reporters that they are unable to confirm the cause of the fire at the moment. The Fire Service, however, suspects electrical fault.

After several speculations and enlightenment regarding possible outbreak of Ebola disease in the Nigeria, one death resulting from the virus occurred on Friday in Lagos, compelling the Federal Government to embark on frantic efforts to calm the nerves of Nigerians.

The victim was said to be travelling from Monrovia, Liberia to Nigeria with Asky Airline via Lome to Lagos.

According to officials, “the passenger, a 40 year old man” who showed symptoms of “fever, vomiting and diarrhea on arrival at the airport” was “quickly isolated and transported straight to the hospitals” by officials of the Federal Ministry of Health.

Addressing journalists Friday in Abuja, the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu alongside the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku said the “patient was subjected to thorough medical evaluation where laboratory investigations were also carried out.”

He was said to have died in a private hospital.

Meanwhile, the Minister has urged all Nigerians not to panic, while pleading that citizens should be at alert and be conscious of their hygiene.

The Minister also said that contacts have been made with the airline and passengers that travelled with the victim for proper monitoring to avoid spread of the virus.

The Ministry has also made phone numbers available for the public to call in case of emergencies.

Ebola virus currently has no vaccine. The deadly virus which can claim a life within two days if contracted, is believed to be transmitted by bats and primates like monkeys and chimpanzees.

However, don’t hesitate to call the following numbers if you suspect any Ebola case: 08023210923, 08097979595 and 07067352220, others are: 08033086660, 08055281442, 08023169485, 08033065303, 08055329229 or email: ebolainfo@health.gov.ng

A young Nigerian student doing his last year in electronic and electrical engineering at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, has built a car operating on solar power.Segun Oyeyiola poses with his locally fabricated solar powered car
She student, Segun Oyeyiola explains that his car uses both wind and solar energy for the functioning, The Net reports.

Moreover, the man developed an application for its installation in the car, which app will inform the driver about the battery level, weather conditions and other essential parameters.

In an interview to allAfrica.com Segun spoke about how he came up with the idea and eventually embodied it. He confessed his first motivation was to eradicate the causes of climate change resulting in fuel combustion.

“In the course of my research, I found out that our regular cars contribute immensely to climate change… If we could manufacture cars that do not use fuel or reduce the number of cars that use fuel; our world will be a better place for us to live in.”

Reports from Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, indicate that the President of Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Aminu Maigari, who was arrested in Abuja early hours of Friday, 4 July, 2014 by the State Security Services (SSS), has been released.

It was gathered that no reason was given for his arrest.

Earlier reports had stated that Maigari was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja by security operatives after he returned to the country with the Super Eagles.

Analysts are already saying the arrest of the football boss may be connected to the sacking of the entire board of the NFF by a court in Jos, Plateau State on Monday, 30 June, 2014.

According to the court order, Maigari and his board members were restrained from acting as administrators of the NFF.

The suit was filed by former Nigeria Premier League chairman Rumson Baribote, who requested the court to restrain Maigari and all the committee and congress of the NFF from managing the affairs of football matters in Nigeria.

Hon. Justice P. L Lot of the Plateau State High Court sitting in Jos granted the Order of Interlocutory Injunction restraining the president of the NFF, the executive committee members as well as the NFF Congress from running affairs of Nigerian football pending the determination of the Motion on Notice before the court.

Gongnews.net had reported that Maigari have queries to answer with the security agencies one of which was the issue of his alleged fake grade III Teachers certificate with which he contested the office of NFF president.

As at the time of compiling this report, the NFF has not released any statement on the arrest of Maigari neither deny the news of the fake certificate scandal charged against him.

Meanwhile, Channels TV reports that coach Stephen Keshi led the Eagles into the country in the early hours of today.

The Nigerian national football team were ousted from the Mundial after they were defeated 0-2 by France in the round of 16 of the football showpiece.

In an interview with sports writers at the airport, coach Keshi said the team would have loved to progress beyond the round of 16 but expressed gratitude to God for the outing in Brazil.

Super Eagles Sat Guru Maharaj Ji, the Head of the “One Love Family” Ibadan, on Sunday predicted victory for the Super Eagles ahead of their clash with the Blues of France in the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

His prediction is contained in a statement signed by Wole Oladapo, the Minister for Media Links of the One Love Family.

The Super Eagles are billed to take on their French counterparts on Monday in the Round of 16 of at the Mundial.

Victory for the Eagles in the match will qualify them for their first quarter-final berth, while a defeat will see them knocked out of the tournament.

He reminded the Nigerian Football Association, Super Eagles Supporters Club, players and coaching crew to be obedient to his earlier divine injunctions, such as avoiding the colour Blue and abstaining from sex, smoking and drinking.

“This is, however, the time for the whole world to know and realise the fact that Nigeria is where the light of the world resides. Victory is for Africa,’’ the statement said.

It said predicted a win during the Nigeria versus Bosnia match, an encounter that largely contributed to Nigeria’s qualification for the Round of 16.

The funeral mass or­ganised at the Sacred Heart Catho­lic Church, Oguta, Imo State for the late Jus­tice Chukwudifu Oputa ended abruptly weekend as his son, Charles Oputa aka Charly Boy stopped Governor Rochas Okoro­cha from making a speech in the church.

Okorocha, who was equally angry that proto­col was breached by President Goodluck Jonathan who was represented at the mass by the Secretary to the Government of Federation, Chief Anyim Pius Anyim by speaking before him, rose to make his speech but Charly Boy seized the microphone from the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Jude Ike, which created confusion in the church.

The officiating priest and Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Most Rev. (Dr) Matthew Hassan Kukah had pleaded with Charly Boy to allow Okorocha speak, but he refused, saying he would not allow his father’s burial to be politicised.

An ostensibly angry Okorocha started fuming in the church, which made the Attorney General of Imo State, Chukwuma Umeh, to order the lawyers who gathered in the church to leave.

As the lawyers were leaving, the dignitaries who attended the mass began to leave in droves as Okorocha and his convoy drove away in anger before the body of Oputa was taken back to his country home for interment.

Governor Okorocha had voted N20 million for the burial of Oputa, but the state lost track of the burial arrangement as the Oputa family shot the door on the burial plan.

Charly Boy was quoted to have warned the Imo State governor to stay away from his father’s buri­al, but no reason was given for his action.

Anyim had read the President’s condolence message to Charly Boy in the church with Jonathan saying that he received with great sadness the demise of the eminent jurist.

Jonathan described the late Oputa as a respected public servant, patriot and internationally acclaimed jurist.

“He was not only an outstanding icon, he also readily gave himself in the service of our fatherland in demonstration of his faith in the emergence of a strong, united and prosperous Ni­geria,” Jonathan said.

In his sermon at the mass service, Bishop Kukah said that the late Oputa was a man of justice and equity who, while was alive, ensured that other people were not treated unjustly.

Kukah who served in the popular Oputa panel with the late jurist advised Ni­gerians, particularly politicians to emulate his legacies.

￼
Nigeria’s Intelligence Agency said it has been warning shopping complexes in Abuja for two weeks that Islamic extremists might attack them in the capital, where a blast at a mall killed 22 people this week.

The increased security may have prevented even more carnage, as witnesses said a security guard stopped a car bomber from entering the mall moments before the massive explosion on Wednesday.

Survivor Donald Chikason told ThisDay newspaper that a security guard argued with the driver of a car who wanted to enter Emab Plaza through the exit gate.

When the guard refused, the man bent down and moments later the car exploded, Friday’s edition of the newspaper quoted him as saying.

“The man started arguing, behaving as if he was drunk,” it quoted him as saying.

Chikason, who works at a bank in the mall, was knocked out by the blast and only regained consciousness in the hospital.

The explosion was heard miles (kilometers) away. It set 17 vehicles ablaze and shattered windows throughout the four-story complex.

Body parts lay around the exit gate, other witnesses told The Associated Press.

Dozens of wounded survivors were recovering in the hospitals Friday, most suffering burn wounds like Chikason, but at least one victim’s leg was amputated, doctors said.

Nigerian intelligence received information that Boko Haram extremists were planning such an attack, said spokeswoman Marilyn Ogar of the Department of State Security.

“About two weeks ago we heard information that they were planning an attack at a busy shopping mall or market … and so we had to go from one shopping complex to another trying to tell people to be more aware,” she told The Associated Press.

Emab Plaza is the biggest and busiest in Abuja, the nation’s capital Ccin central Nigeria. The explosion occurred around rush hour as many residents were hurrying to view Nigeria’s Super Eagles match against Argentina at the World Cup in Brazil. It was unclear if the bomb was tÇimed to coincide with that, although Boko Haram has bombed several football viewing venues this year, prompticng two northeastern states to ban public events to watch the football spectacular.

The state security department did not publish the intelligence about the threat to shopping malls, apparently to avoid a panic. Last week the government warned it had information that Boko Haram planned to hijack petrol tankers in the capital and booby trap them with explosives.

Also Friday, police said they defused a massive car bomb packed with 13 explosive devices outside the main mosque in Kano, Nigeria’s second city, in the north of the country.

“What happened in the Abuja explosion would have been child’s play if these discovered explosives had exploded at the mosque.”

He said it was timed to explode as people gathered for prayers on Friday, the main Muslim holy day.

Two separate bombs in Abuja in April killed about 120 people and wounded more than 200 at a busy bus station.

President Goodluck Jonathan visited the scene of the latest blast and victims in the hospital on Friday, after returning home hastily Thursday night and cutting short his participation at an African Union summit in Equatorial Guinea.

Speaking to reporters at the main hospital, he sympathised with victims and their families and called the 5-year-old Islamic uprising “one of the darkest phases in the history of our nation.”

Still he said he was confident “we shall surely pass through this” and promised the perpetrators would be brought to book.

Jonathan and his government are making efforts to improve his image following international condemnation of his slow and ineffective response to the April mass abductions of more than 200 schoolgirls who still are held captive by Boko Haram extremists. Boko Haram also is blamed for the kidnappings of another 90 people this week.

Jonathan sent an opinion piece published Thursday in the Washington Post newspaper with the headline: “Nothing is more important than bringing home Nigeria’s missing girls.”

Nigeria’s leader said his silence on the subject was needed to avoid compromising details of the investigation but unfortunately “is being misused by partisan critics to suggest inaction or even weakness …

“On my orders, our forces have aggressively sought these killers in the forests of northern Borno state, where they are based,” Jonathan wrote, indicating a belief the girls still are in the country.

There have been reports of sightings of groups of girls assumed to be those kidnapped in April in neighbouring countries.

Jonathan, a Christian, wrote that Boko Haram “seeks to overwhelm the country and impose its ideology on all Nigerians. My government is determined to make that impossible. We will not succumb to the will of terrorists.”

He came home to a capital is in mourning, with speedy burials for Muslims among the victims. They included artist Abba Kura. His friend, Muhammad Khalifa Garba wept at his funeral Thursday, where mourners carried his works. He said Kura told him earlier this week that he no longer wanted to paint on canvas and had started a new work, a landscape on paper.

A relative of another victim, Mohammed Maina Bissala, railed against Boko Haram’s indiscriminate tactics: “Allah says you should not take the life of a single person, so why should you claim that you are Boko Haram and you are killing everybody, both Muslims and Christians, everybody. What have they done? They have not done anything, these are innocent souls,” he told The Associated Press.

Boko Haram’s attacks have been concentrated in its stronghold in the northeast of the country but it has spread its attacks to the capital this year and increased the tempo and deadliness of attacks concentrated around bombings in cities and a scorched-earth policy in rural villages in the northeast.

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday led other dignitaries to perform the ground-breaking and unveiling of the Abuja Centenary City Project.

This was just as a former military Head of State, Gen. Abdusalam Abubakar (rtd), appealed to Nigerians to give peace a chance.

The cost of the economic project situated at Airport Road meant to commemorate the 100 years of the nation’s amalgamation was put at N2.976tr ($18.6 bn).

Jonathan in his remarks described the project that was designed to cover 1,200 hectares of land as a city of hope and elegant as well as a symbol of the nation’s unity.

He said no other sign could demonstrate the symbol of his administration’s determination for excellence than the city which he said promises a unique and global standard in real estate project.

When completed, the President said the project would turn out to be a modern city where modern beauty will merge with architectural creativity.

He said his government’s determination was to make it a sustainable and viable economic project.

“We don’t want to build a city where everybody will have ‘maiguard’ (security guards), we don’t want a city where everybody will dig their bore holes and where everybody will be buying generators,” he said.

Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Pius Anyim, told the gathering that the city is not a housing project but strictly an economic project.

Anyim said the residential area that would be provided would only complement the business concerns.

He disclosed that a Dubai firm, Eagles Hills Properties, would develop the city at no cost to the government.

He said the Nigerian Sovereign Wealth Fund Authorities had signed an agreement with to co-invest with the firm.

Anyim described the project as revolutionary, visionary and transformational.

Abubakar who is the chairman of the Centenary City Plc observed that it is only when peace reigns in all parts of the country that the project can be successful.

The former Head of State therefore called on Nigerians to ensure they maintain peace.

“It is only when there is peace that the project can be successful. It is the duty of every one of us to make sure that we maintain peace in the county,” he said.

The ‎sum of N2.976 tr has been mopped up to develop the 1,200 hectares of land earlier earmarked by the FCT Administration for the purpose.

A total of N1.2bn being 100 percent compensation has been paid for economic trees of the original inhabitants as well as structures of some non natives situated in the area.

While 20 percent of the plots has been earmarked for residential houses, 80 percent is for mixed use and commercial purposes.

The Abuja Centenary City will be the second-largest private city development in history, and signals a new national economic awakening.

The City will incorporate a free trade zone, duty free regime, tax holidays and non-regulated banking services in an effort to boost trade and investment in Nigeria, and make it replica of the success of Dubai, Monaco, Shenzhen, Singapore and Songdo.

The Super Eagles Manager, Stephen Keshi, is set to South Africa Soccer Federation on a two-year deal on a coaching job.Stephen keshi
Keshi will be the country’s senior national team, the Bafana Bafana, immediately after the ongoing Brazil 2014 World Cup.

It was learnt that Keshi would cease to be the Super Eagles manager after the World Cup, since he is accepted to take the offer from South Africa.

The Big Boss would head to Johannesburg straight from Brazil to sign the dotted lines and be unveiled by the South Africans once he is through with the World Cup assignment, we gathered.

It would be recalled that South Africa had last month sacked the Bafana Bafana manager, Gordon Igesund, after their friendly against Australia.

Eagle Online reports that a source said, “I can confirm to you that the deal between Keshi and SAFA has been signed and sealed.

“He is going to South Africa immediately after the World Cup.

“The South Africans are impressed with what he has done with the Eagles and want him to turn around the fortunes of Bafana Bafana.”

Keshi’s first assignment for South Africa would be against the Super Eagles as South Africa and Nigeria have been drawn into the same group in the race to Morocco 2015.

As much as blood pressure is affected by various states of the body throughout the day, as well as various diseases that are seen in many people, it can also be affected by outside influences such as food and drinks. Specifically, alcoholic drinks are a major factor that influences blood pressure in a person.

It is important that more people pay attention to the relationship between alcohol and blood pressure because it is such an important relationship that could very well determine whether or not you are a healthy or unhealthy individual. Drinking alcohol could also increase the chance of other medical issues which may then indirectly lead to an increase in blood pressure.

Regular drinkers are exceptionally prone to having high blood pressure, because they harm their kidneys in such a way that more pressure is exerted on arteries and such, since the kidneys are closely connected with blood pressure.

Drinkers should limit the amount they drink to one or two drinks every day or so. Women should be expecially careful as to how much they drink because their tolerance is normally lower than a man’s. If blood pressure becomes a strong problem due to drinking, doctors are very likely to administer some strong medicine to a person.

Alcohol also causes some people to become overweight. At the very least, it is a contributing factor to being overweight, due the number of calories alcohol contains.

That beer gut people get after downing a six pack a day is not only making you look bad, chances are it’s also raising your blood pressure to dangerously high levels.

After all, the more fat a person has on them, the more pressure that fat is going to put on arteries, which will, in turn, raise the pressure of the blood pressing against those arteries.

Because of the strong correlation between alcohol and high blood pressure, it is plain to see that drinking less is going to drastically help keep a person’s blood pressure down.

Besides the other obvious health risks that could be avoided by drinking less, not having to worry about a high blood pressure could be one of the best to consider.

Physicians with patients who have a high blood pressure should give out regulations and limits in regards to drinking in order to better prepare people for the consequences they could encounter.

An explosion ripped through a football viewing centre in Damaturu, northern Nigeria, on Tuesday, residents said, as fans gathered to watch the World Cup.

The blast at the Crossfire venue, in the Nayi-Nawa area of the state capital of Yobe, happened at about 8:00 pm (1900 GMT), just as tournament hosts Brazil kicked off against Mexico.

There were no immediate reports of deaths but hospitals were reporting casualties being brought in, medical sources said.

A witness near the scene told Reuters they heard a loud boom. Some residents said they also heard a second explosion.

Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state, is an area that has been devastated by attacks from Islamist group Boko Haram which in April abducted more than 200 girls from a school in neighbouring Borno state.

The Nigerian government had advised residents to avoid gathering in public to watch the World Cup, concerned about possible attacks.

The Nigerian Senate on Wednesday approved the budget of N4.6 trillion as the government budget in 2014.
The budget proposal figure was increased by the legislators by relatively minimal 53 billion naira.

The sum of N4.642 trillion had been the budget estimate presented to the National Assembly by the Co-ordinating minister of the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in December 2013on behalf of President Jonathan.

Out of that sum, 3.54 trillion was slated for the recurrent expenditure while the remaining N1.1 trillion-the equivalent of 23.7 percent, was billed for capital projects.

The budget which is the lowest in three years, passed the second reading on February 4, 2014.

A third reading passage is expected by the House of Representatives before a harmonization of the bill, ahead of the president’s assent.

The opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) had insisted on frustrating the passage of the 2014 Appropriation Bill before the National Assembly.

Is he in the movie playing out a role? The is a question that will quickly cone to mind on getting the report that one time popular Actor, Uche Odoputa, who was once convicted and sentenced for drug trafficking, is now a driver and one of the aides to an APC chieftain, Emeka Ebekee, in Port Hacourt.

Emeka Ebekee who is also the state secretary to APC in Rivers State, was said to had been spotted on several campaign grounds with the Actor.

Reports have it that after each campaign, the Actor takes over the wheel.

According to Movie Moments reports, the APC chieftain has also opened a boutique for the Actor along Rivers State college of Arts and Science, Rumuola, where he deals on men’s wears.
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Uche Odoputa, who was famous for his lover boy roles in the movies, hails from Imo State.

He was born in 1969. He is also a movie maker and events manager.

He is said to be one of the directors of Heartland Tours and Educational Services Limited; an organisation that brings kids together and educate them.